Menu

A to Z 2014: Dreams

Dreams, we all have them, both in regards to the sleeping kind and the awake kind. But today I am going to talk about the sleeping kind.

Research always indicates that we dream during all four stages of sleep, but our more vivid dreams occur during our REM cycles, or stage four. Once you complete stage 4, the cycles repeat themselves, and once they happen this first time, stages 1-3 take less time to circle through thereafter. So therefore, since you are in stage four the longest, it will be your deepest sleep and you will be more likely to dream. If you are awakened abruptly in stage 4, research also says that you are then most likely to remember your dreams.

As we age, we spend less time in REM stage. Babies spend 60% of their sleep in REM stage while adults spend 15-20% of their time:

“Dream researchers believe that there is a correlation between REM sleep and brain development.” – http://www.dreammoods.com

Dreams always fascinate me. I remember my dreams often, more frequently than most adults it seems. I have recurring dreams. My most recent recurring dream would be when I was sleeping in my apartment and I kept dreaming I was going to be evicted, and 9 times out of 10 would awaken in a panic.

When I share my dreams, those closest to me make special note how weird they are and how many details I remember.

So it makes me wonder… am I often wakened during my REM cycle? Or am I simply just someone who can remember their dreams more often than most?

Do you remember your dreams often? Have you had recurring dreams, or any dreams that stood out to you for any particular reason?

(I am squeezing this in later than I wanted today. For those who understand, I am pullling a pre-2014 Jak move here.)

Like this:

Related

6 comments on “A to Z 2014: Dreams”

I too have many recurring themes in my dreams. I also dream very vividly and have on occasion woken up confused and disoriented. If my subconscious is trying to tell me something, I’m not getting the point 🙂

You remember many of your dreams, and longer into the day. I’m someone who would, more often than not, have to write them down upon waking. A lot of times they fade fast. Others — mostly those from the past — have remained with me since having them.

I obviously can’t pull off a sleep study, so I doubt there would be any chance of a dream study (not sure how much difference there is), but I’m sure they would find some oddities in my sleep patterns. As I’ve shared with you, when I barely drift I go right into dream mode. I seem to remember these as I’m snapped out of them just moments (or what feels like moments) later.

Back in the day, after one very specific dream, I could control all of my dreams. This mainly occurred if there seemed to be a shift resulting in the dream becoming more of a nightmare caliber. Through the years, and getting less and less sleep, this ability has seemed to fade. Or it’s possible I just no longer remember them as well as I used to.

I’ve not had many, if any, recurring dreams taking place at different times, but I have had the same dream multiple times within the same night. Having it recur made it easier for me to control it the second time around.

I miss not remembered and being able to control my dreams. I feel everyone can do it with practice 🙂

I am always intrigued by the notion of controlling your dreams. I think that I was able to partially control one of mine once, and like you said, it was one that was stepping into more of a nightmare caliber of a dream. But I also recall in said moment, that I awoke shortly after controlling the outcome.

I always thought the idea of a dream/sleep study would be interesting, but after seeing all that is entailed in a sleep study, now I am not so sure! Given the fact that I dream so much, and I am prone to talk in my sleep, I think someone watching me sleep would be insightful and at the very least, moderately entertaining. I bet if I would be allowed to stay with you throughout the entire sleep study, you would be able to make it though, and possibly even fall asleep.

I love dreams! Every morning, when I wake up, I lie there and remember the dreams I had during the night. I still have college dreams (you know, the ones where you never went to the class and now it’s the final) that make me wake up scared and worried.

Sometimes, I can make myself dream something by thinking about it before I fall asleep. And sometimes, I can go back into an amazing dream that I have awoken from but didn’t want to end.

Oooh you have dream super powers! Jak says I should practice to control my dreams especially since my dreams tend to be so vivid. I have hopped back into my dreams maybe a couple of times, but only after barely being awake.

I always thought my recurring apartment eviction dream was odd, and when I changed sleeping locations (sleeping at Jak’s) the dream went away. So I would only dream it while sleeping at my apartment seems very odd. Must have been some weird energies there!